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Ten NWU academics exonerated in internal probe

───   OLEBOGENG MOTSE 13:19 Thu, 21 Mar 2019

Ten NWU academics exonerated in internal probe | News Article

Ten current North-West University (NWU) academics can let out a sigh of relief, after an internal investigation into plagiarism allegations that surfaced in 2017, has found them not guilty.


The NWU released a statement this week giving feedback on the institution’s three-phase investigation into allegations of misconduct and plagiarism levelled against a total of 21 current and former NWU academics. Ten of the current academics were absolved of the allegations, while evidence of misconduct and plagiarism were found against eight current and three former employees.

 

Spokesperson, Louis Jacobs, explains two current NWU academics, out of the guilty group have been fined and instructed to refund the institution for the page fees paid for the publication of an article that was found to be plagiarised. Five other current academics have been subjected to further investigations after the technical report revealed there were “networks of possible academic collaboration among groups of researchers”. The last of the current academics committed plagiarism before they were employed at the institution. Jacobs says Vice-Chancellor, Dan Kgwadi has noted the evidence against the latter academic, further explaining “we cannot punish somebody for something they did before they were employed at the university. We will have a look at what that individual has published since joining the university further”.

 

The institution will forward its findings regarding three former academics who have been found guilty, to the “national higher education structures”. The City Press first reported in July 2017, that “a whistle-blower close to the student body reported the matter to the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the department of higher education and training”.

 

“The fact that we have gone to such lengths to finalise this investigation, will give you a very good idea of how seriously the university takes plagiarism and misconduct” says Jacobs. The spokesperson says the university is being transparent in order to emphasise its stance on the allegations.  



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